in reading - when met new unfamiliar words - then what to do?
By missjahn
@missjahn (4574)
Philippines
August 3, 2012 5:59pm CST
i am fond of reading novels. i love to read adventure ones; where there are kings and queens, princes and princesses, goblins, when there are viking/ saxons wars, sort of a kind of stories are my type of book. the novel were too thick and sureness to say that lots of words to be found in there which are not familiar to me.
before reading, i planned a thing first like preparing my notebook for jotting purposes, then get the ballpen along and bring with me the dictionary for words referral. when already confuse of the new word, that is the time i will seek the meaning of it, then olah, it works or worked for somehow i understand what the author is trying to emphasize. it helps me too on my vocabulary even not perfectly but at least it is.
even here in mylot, there are words i would like to use which not so sure about its meaning. so i opened the online dictionary and when can confirmed the meaning of it; then that is the time i will decide if can use this one or not in constructing a sentence.
so guys, what are your schemes in reading if you cannot understand a certain word or group of words? enjoy!
1 person likes this
12 responses
@ElicBxn (63252)
• United States
4 Aug 12
As a person for whom English is my first (and only) language, I don't OFTEN run into words here I don't know.
I also don't often run into words I don't know when I'm reading (and believe me, I read some pretty strange things.)
But when I do run into one (and I did today) I will look it up with the online dictionary...
(The word was "encaustic" and its a kind of art that uses wax with pigment in it for a painting or other kind of art.)
@missjahn (4574)
• Philippines
4 Aug 12
because as the world rotates everyday, new trends and new words were being formed by us. the newly formed words will be accepted and included even in the list of words with meaning in the dictionary. so when hard words as you see it for you, you can search the meaning of it in the dictionary.
thank for joining into this post :)
1 person likes this
@Sportseconomics (162)
• United States
3 Aug 12
First, I try to use the context to figure out what the approximate meaning of the word is. Unless it's really important to know exactly what the word means, I usually take this as good enough.
However, when I don't know it and it seems important, I will use an app on my phone to use the dictionary. If for some reason it's not there, I get lazy and just keep reading, despite not knowing what it means.
@Sportseconomics (162)
• United States
3 Aug 12
It's really too bad, as I am sure there's plenty of words out there which I don't know the meaning of at all or am not too sure of it, but I find myself wanting to focus on one thing (reading) and by looking up an unknown word in the dictionary, it takes my focus away.
@missjahn (4574)
• Philippines
4 Aug 12
naw! aww... i do not want to skip a single word unknowing the meaning of it for you will miss what had the author said and meant in his novel. what if the author used the different meaning of die, then all of a sudden confusion, you'll get stacked because you did not follow the story for you did not understand the meaning of it. gosh, so alike and that. that is why referring a word you do not understand in a dictionary is so important.
@sylvia13 (1850)
• Nelson Bay, Australia
4 Aug 12
That is what is good about reading books on the Kindle, as it comes with dictionaries in different languages for one to look words up. I think that is the best way to learn new words, as one finds them in context, so one can probably remember them better that way!
@marguicha (216441)
• Chile
7 Aug 12
I check some of the words in a dictionary, but most of the words I´m not so sure about, I can get from the context. Of course it much depends on the number of words you don´t know in a text. I don´t have much problems with that because I have loved to read all my life.
@missjahn (4574)
• Philippines
7 Aug 12
good for you madam! reading is a great scheme because it teaches us lots of things. oh yeah getting the main thought of it would help you too but chunking the meaning into pieces like knowing the words which is new to you will give you the learning and the application of it will reach into other variation which you can use when you are constructing your own context too. thanks for joining into this discussion. :)
@paulli3 (312)
• China
7 Aug 12
you can guess the meaning of words according to all article or all paragraph, if you know other words, it is easy to infer the meaning of words, and what you do is good, it is good for your reading if you take notes. you can learn more words. and if you read on computer, you can download a electronic dictinary, it is so convenient.
@missjahn (4574)
• Philippines
7 Aug 12
there are lots of ways on how to understand what you read. you can get the context, yes - but if you want to learn and to explore more of your thoughts, like what you said, jot the words; get the meaning and make a sentence out of it. yes, using electronic dictionaries would give you the benefits equally as you use dictionary books. but the disadvantage of using dictionary book is that it is too heavy to put it in a bag but there are small ones but incomplete and in using the electronic dictionary, you cannot have it when you do not have pc or cellphone of course. anyway, stay wise - try to use according to your convenience and the good it offers. thanks for joining here :)
@tetris15 (539)
• Philippines
4 Aug 12
If there's someone near me who I think knows the word, I ask them. But most of the time, I use the dictionary. And whenever I do that, I tend to search for other words that pops out and finding myself reading the dictionary than the book where I encounter the word. Funny, right?
@missjahn (4574)
• Philippines
5 Aug 12
not funny, indeed a very good scheme to improve your vocabulary learning. it helps you widen the horizon to know more better words which a helpful tool for having a conversation and to stay competitive nowadays more in applying a job and such. searching the synonyms would be okay too. it is nice to know the other term of the word at least you will be able to know the other variant of it. thanks
@sylvia13 (1850)
• Nelson Bay, Australia
4 Aug 12
That is what is good about reading books on the Kindle, as it comes with dictionaries in different languages for one to look words up. I think that is the best way to learn new words, as one finds them in context, so one can probably remember them better that way!
@missjahn (4574)
• Philippines
4 Aug 12
probably right - they can understand the meaning so well because there is already a given sentence to it as an example on how to construct it. so the retention is high too, they merely saw the word once but know the context of it so in time, if being used again, they can have it in their stocked knowledge. thanks
@ardoy0731 (7308)
• Philippines
4 Aug 12
Due to new technology now,I could use my mobile dictionary to look for the meaning of the unfamiliar words that I read in some books or magazine.It helps somehow to make my vocabulary widen and learn something again.
@missjahn (4574)
• Philippines
4 Aug 12
good at that. when everyone should the same thing, i am pretty sure that they can learn something that will help them communicate with people and even they can use the knowledge when they are applying for a job. doing a thing like this do not just give the benefits alone to himself but it truthfully, the english language is a universal language, so to stay competitive we must be equipped even the basic knowing of some words to be used
thanks for joining in here :)
@vidhyaprakash_2 (7116)
• India
4 Aug 12
I bookmarked an online dictionary in my browser, if i find an unfamiliar word, i will open the dictionary and find out the meaning. Mylot is a great place to learn a lot of new words too, i learned some new words in this sort.
@desiree91 (515)
• Malaysia
4 Aug 12
The best way to learn new words is to understand the whole context in which the words are placed. Learning will be more effective that way.
@idea24share (439)
• India
4 Aug 12
I always take eager to know about the meaning of the words with the help of dictionary. It is also a good chance to know about them and increase our knowledge upto date.
@missjahn (4574)
• Philippines
4 Aug 12
dictionary is a great help for thus who seek meanings of a certain word. it widened the horizon of our thoughts and knowledge and the application of that certain word would be useful as well; to the students, to the job applicants, for communications and to the workers too. how to move to comply a thing, if you do not understand a simple word being uttered to you.
thanks for replying in here.
@Raine38 (12257)
• United States
4 Aug 12
Whenever I encountered an unfamiliar word while reading, I immediately pull out my dictionary (I have downloaded dictionaries on my ipad, itouch and blackberry and I am not shy to bring them out if I didn't understand a word). I have to stop reading and check the word right there and then for me to fully understand the passage. It just irritates me a bit if I get thrown off the plot just because there's a word that I can't understand. After that, I will try to use that word within that day so I will have better retention of the new word.
@missjahn (4574)
• Philippines
4 Aug 12
right at that. dictionary will help you a lot. like you i do not want to skip reading or just reading without understanding because i do not want to miss any good point or happening in there, to get in flow of the story and such. so that is why i make reviews to the vocabulary i jotted down to my notes to see to it that somehow those words could not be forgotten and can use it in a time. gee, thanks for joining the discussion
